The contest is being held at Bowie High School. Admission is $5 for spectators. The contest chair has requested visitors park in the Paisano parking lot north of the stadium, as the Delta parking lot is reserved for buses and equipment trucks.

I got an email the other day in which the writer had much to say about how the taxpayer and school districts were spending tens of thousands of dollars on halftime shows, thus rendering the band director basically useless. The writer thought the taxpayers were being ripped off– all that money on a single halftime.

So let's talk a little about how bands get their shows. It IS true now that very few bands locally use a show written by their directors anymore. That's too bad, because we have some pretty good drill writers here. Bryan Andrade used to write the shows for the Eastwood Band, and Henry Vega did his own shows at Americas High School. Ron Pingor wrote for his band at Montwood. I believe, although I haven't confirmed it this year, that Mike Porras still writes his own shows at Burges. They may be one or two others, but directors writing their own drill is getting rarer.

Why? The desire and expectation that our bands will be competitive across the region and across the state. It's a bit of a shame as well that we had some very good, up and coming young drill writers here in El Paso that have now moved on to greener pastures, although several local bands are using drill by former El Pasoan Ivan De La Cruz.

It is true that some bands spend a large amount of money on drill/ visual writers/choreography. But I don't know of a single organization that has a school budget that would allow district funds (and thus, 'taxpayer money') to be spent on these very personalized and detailed shows. I used to use my school budget money on shows for my band, but I also bought massed produced show packages that cost a whooping $750 for drill, music, and a flag choreography tape thrown in. Actually quite a bargain. We got our first divisions here locally, advanced to Area every other year, and made the finals of Tournament of Bands with those little shows. But we were never truly competitive when we marched in contests with bands spending 10 to 20 times more on their shows. How could we be? That experience is one shared by every other local band, so at some point you grit up and go custom, or as custom as you can.

So how do most bands pay for the shows they perform?By tapping those heroes of the bandroom, the guardian angels of the music programs– the boosters. The parent groups for many, many bands in El Paso spend the spring semester and the summer running concessions or whatever other events they find to raise funds to get the money needed to keep their groups competitive.

They'll spend more in an advancing year, and less on the off years. They build props and ramps and whatever special effects they can; hire marching techs, and flag directors and percussion instructors– all important captions these days as band becomes a more and more disciplined and adjudicated activity. Is it right? Weren't things better in the old days?

That's a debatable question, and one we usually discuss here each year on the blog. But in reality it doesn't matter. The activity of marching band has evolved to it's current iteration, so it's a reality directors must face and deal with. And our local directors in El Paso and New Mexico have done an outstanding job of it. We are a pretty constant presence at the State Marching Band Contest each November, and other parts of Texas have started to notice.

But the school districts for the most part do not heavily finance band programs here. An even the most storied programs in Texas raise money outside of their school budgets. That's the way it is. Just as there are hopes and aspirations for our local athletic programs, so there are hopes and aspirations for our marching programs as well. And all these groups are growing more competitive each and every year, so what the directors and coaches are doing is working.

As usual, things are humming along on th school music scene. Tonight is the best night for college halftimes in our area, as you can see the UTEP Marching Miners and the NMSU Aggie Band in the Sun Bowl this evening. High school shows are coming together, and the audition processes in all areas –band, choir, and orchestra, are underway.

It will be a busy and somewhat unusual contest season, with a few competing events sure to have and effect on some contests. The Socorro Marchfest and the ZIA competition in Albuquerque are the same day, (October 18) and all our local NM bands have opted to go north. And the UIL Area contest for the Texas 6-A bands is the same day(October 25) as the NMSU Tournament of Bands. This should definitely effect the looks of the finals round a bit at NMSU, but it's certainly an opportunity for several very good bands to crack into the finals of that contest.

There are also a series of football games for the EPISD being held at the Sun Bowl on October 25, including the early game at 10:00 a.m. between Franklin and Coronado. The UIL has pushed the Area contest starting time back to accommodate the game. Four other EPISD bands will have to adjust their participation at NMSU that day as well. It's going to be a very busy Saturday for area band fans!

The short run down of contests is as follows:

September 27– Andress marching contest

October 4– EPISD contest at Bowie High

October 11–UIL Regional at the SAC

October 18– SISD Marchfest at the SAC, Zia Marching at UNM in ABQ.

October 25– NMSU Tournament of Bands, and UIL localized Area for 6-A bands